Where On Earth Did Russia's Dead Mars Probe Crash?

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Despite reports that a failed Russian Mars probe fell to Earth
Sunday (Jan. 15) and plunged into the Pacific Ocean, some
confusion remains over where exactly the spacecraft crashed,
according to Russian news reports.

The robotic
Phobos-Grunt spacecraft fell from space yesterday at 12:45
p.m. EST (1745 GMT) somewhere over the southern Pacific Ocean,
off the coast of Chile, Russian military officials told the
country's news agency Ria Novosti. The probe malfunctioned
shortly after launch and had been stuck in orbit around Earth for
more than two months.

"Phobos-Grunt fragments have crashed down in the Pacific Ocean,"
said Alexei Zolotukhin, an official with Russia's Defense
Ministry, according to
Ria Novosti.

But soon after the initial report, the news agency released an
update that cited an unnamed ballistics expert who claimed the
spacecraft may have re-entered somewhere over Brazil.

Russia's Federal Space Agency released an official statement
today (Jan. 16) which stated that Phobos-Grunt's re-entry over
the Pacific Ocean was consistent with their estimates and
projections.

However, the space agency added a caveat, stating that the
re-entry analysis was based on orbital data only, and not visual
confirmation of the spacecraft's fiery fall to Earth. The
European Space Agency, which also monitored the spacecraft's
descent, is expected to release a formal update on the
Phobos-Grunt re-entry tomorrow (Jan. 17). [ Photos:
Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mars Mission ]

So far, no eyewitness accounts of the Phobos-Grunt re-entry have
surfaced, and there have been no verified sightings of any pieces
of the 14.5-ton spacecraft that may have survived.

Orbital debris experts previously estimated that most of the
probe would burn up in the atmosphere, but some larger components
were expected to reach the planet's surface. Russia's Federal
Space Agency projected that 20 to 30 pieces weighing a total of
no more than 440 pounds (200 kilograms) could survive the fiery
trip through the atmosphere.

Russian space officials also assured the public that the toxic
fuel onboard Phobos-Grunt
would burn up high above Earth and not pose any threats to
people on the ground.

The $165 million probe was launched Nov. 8 on an ambitious
mission to collect samples from the Mars moon Phobos and return
them to Earth in 2014. The second half of the spacecraft's name,
Grunt, is Russian for "soil." Shortly after launch, the
spacecraft suffered a crippling malfunction that stranded it in
low-Earth orbit.

Russian officials are conducting an investigation into the
botched mission, which was one of a string of space failures the
country suffered in 2011.

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on
Twitter@denisechow.
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